But in Dreams
by Eilonwyn
Summary: Sakura and the gang find themselves facing vicariously an adventure on a bigger scope than any of them could have imagined. Many references to other CLAMP manga, but stays in CCS world/time. Mild pairings: TxY, SxS, others... Oneshot-ish for now. Enjoy!


**A/N: Ok, for those of you who've never seen me before, hi! I've never posted any anime/manga stuff before, but I've been lurking for a while. And for any people that put me on author alert, I swear I'm not abandoning my other fics. (Despite the fact that anime/manga has taken over my soul a little bit, I'm not that mean!) This works to be a oneshot as well, which is the only reason I'm posting it now. I've been known to disappear to lurker status every once in a while...**

**Ok, so this is technically **_**not **_** a crossover for Tsubasa and xxxHOLiC, because it spends the vast majority of the time in CCS. But, it does explain CCS's side of the story and role in the other two. This will be pretty darned long, I think. But hopefully, each of the chapters will stand more or less on it's own. (I hope so, because I tend to take forever to update.) So here's the first bit, starring everyone's favorite Kinomoto siblings! Oh, and Kero-chan, too... A prologue, of sorts, I guess.**

"Oi, Onii-chan! Onii-chan!!"

_What the_... Touya felt his face pull involuntarily into a grimace as he tried to pull himself out of sleep to figure out who was irritating him. It was dark outside. Still nighttime? And who was that, anyway? There were only two people who called him that...and the voice didn't sound girly enough to be the kaijuu...

Touya's hand reached up to swat the stuffed toy that he decided was probably hovering over his head right then. Kero, however, now working on his third year of experience surviving as a fully integrated member of the Kinomoto household, dodged neatly and zoomed in towards his face. "You awake, Onii-chan?"

"No," he said sarcastically, and shoved himself up. "What on earth do you want at this - "

"I'm worried about Sakura!" the little Guardian cut him off, anticipating the rest of his question. "It's like she's having a nightmare, but I've never seen one this bad before, and she doesn't want to wake up - "

Now that he mentioned it, Touya _could_ hear the faint sound of rustling and whimpering noises through the wall of his room.

He sighed as though annoyed even as he hurried as fast as he could to Sakura's door, carefully pushing it open.

He stared for a moment in shock. Half of Sakura's blankets had slid off her to the floor, and she was thrashing as though something were trying to hold her underwater. As he watched, one of her hands came convulsively to her chest, as though protecting a wound, and one of her hands reached out as though she was falling -

"Oi!" he said roughly, and took hold of her wrists. "Kaijuu! Wake up already! Hey!"

Sakura struggled against his grip for a second, her face scrunched up tight as though she was trying to stop shut out whatever world she thought she was in. Then she stopped and pushed herself up slightly, her face relaxing to the point where her eyes could open.

Kero-chan, deciding his services were no longer required, made himself scarce and went back to sleep, prepared to hound Sakura for details on her dream in the morning when Touya had taken care of everything else.

"Onii-chan..." she whispered, looking disoriented.

"Sheesh, you scared me there," he said, releasing one of her wrists to smooth down her sleep-rumpled hair. "Did you have a nightmare?"

His eyes widened in surprise as her eyes suddenly overflowed with tears. "I...I don't know..." she whispered. "It was..."

Then she was all-out crying, reaching for her older brother and clinging to him as though he were some sort of anchor, and her sobs were not as small and little-girly as he remembered, and he couldn't hold all of her at once anymore since she had grown since the last time he'd held her when she'd cried. So instead he took a firm grip on her shoulders and let her press her face into his neck in a desperate attempt to stifle her tears.

"Shh," he said gently, leaning his own head down so his mouth was even with her ear. "It's all right, you're safe. It was just a dream."

"No - " Sakura choked, shaking her head convulsively, "It was something - else..."

Touya sighed gently, knowing he had to take _those_ words at face value, now. Things weren't as simple with his little sister as they'd once been. "It's all right," he said again. "Whatever it was, you're awake and it can't hurt you."

"Me..." Sakura's voice rose slightly, became slightly steadier. "No, it can't hurt _me_ me...but there's other me's out there, and they..." She whimpered. "Onii-chan! I can't remember, but I was so scared...there was more than one _me_ and we were all so scared and we were different people, but in some ways we were the same, and I could feel all of them at once! They were all me! But...they weren't happy..." She drew a shuddering breath, then broke down again on his shoulder. "They weren't happy at all, and it was all _huge_, and more than you could handle all at once, and everything was so _complicated_, and...was I even supposed to exist in the first place?"

Touya's eyes widened - damn it, he'd heard those words before, and he was tired of them, thank you. Where had that question come from? "You belong here," he said roughly, moving his hands up and down her shaking back in a comforting rhythm. "You're my little sister, and you're a part of everything here. Those cards and Yuki and Yue and that little stuffed toy, they've all been waiting for you to show up. Of course you're supposed to exist."

There was a moment of deep silence, then Sakura giggled slightly. "Thanks, onii-chan. ...But...that wasn't exactly what I meant."

Touya rolled his eyes. "Well, it's too late at night for you to be making any sense. Or too early in the morning, for that matter." He realized he had no idea what time it was - he'd been too busy to look at the clock.

He took her shoulders and pushed her away slightly, looking her in the eye. "Ok now?"

She nodded, whispering, "Hai."

"Good. Now, do you want me to let you sleep, or..."

Sakura looked down, looking way too helpless and pathetic for a girl her age, especially one of the most powerful magicians of all time. "Onii-chan...I don't suppose you could...stay...here..."

Touya half-smiled. Even grown-up middle-school kaijuus couldn't help being adorably manipulative once in a while. "If that's what you want, kaijuu, I'm right here."

Sakura pouted slightly, but her eyes twinkled a little, and not from her tears. "I'm not a monster."

Touya's smile got a fraction of an inch wider. "I know. Now move over."

Sakura obediently moved towards the wall, and Touya straightened the covers so that they were over both of them (though if Sakura was a _little _better covered, he certainly wasn't saying anything), and let Sakura curl up with her hands on his chest and her face under the shadow of his arm and shoulder. It only took her a couple of minutes to fall asleep, and once he was sure she could breathe (he'd never understood his little sister's penchant for suffocating at night), he settled himself to sleep as well.

Whatever the problem was, Sakura would deal with it in the morning and in the days to come, and he and all the many people that loved her would help...human or otherwise. Together, they could face any sort of challenge.

**A/N: Yes, you get some fluffy sibling luff here. To-ya's such a good older brother (heh, sister complex~...), I couldn't resist. ^///^ It's not just the romantic relationships that need love! **

**Don't worry, you'll be seeing **_**way**_** more characters in future chapters...including several you wouldn't expect to see in the CCS world. That's all I'm saying for now, except that this thing's going all over the place. And I want a pairing for **_**everyone.**_** No OCs, though, don't worry. Just possibly the occasional...modification. *evil grin* **

**On a side note, is this fandom still alive? That's rather amazing, considering all of it was over a while ago (nearly, what, a decade? 15 years? 0.o) ...I only discovered this wonderful series recently myself. I fell in love with Yukito from TRC right from the beginning, then heard that there was more of him in here. (I discovered TRC from reading xxxHOLiC... CLAMP's really smart to reseed characters like that. .)**

**Oh, and i should probably warn you - this fic **_**will**_** eventually have some shounen-ai and shoujo-ai. Nothing more intense than what CLAMP itself did, though, probably. I'm trying to imitate their style here, to a certain exent. So if the manga didn't offend you, I very much doubt this li'l old fic will. ;D**

***looks back* geez, long Author's Note. Sorry~! **

**Seeya!**


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